'Going up that river was like travelling back to the earliest beginnings of the world, when vegetation rioted on the earth and the big trees were kings. An empty stream, a great silence, an impenetrable forest. The air was warm, thick, heavy, sluggish. There was no joy in the brilliance of sunshine. The long stretches of the waterway ran on, deserted, into the gloom of overshadowed distances. On silvery sandbanks hippos and alligators sunned themselves side by side. The broadening waters flowed through a mob of wooded islands; you lost your way on that river as you would in a desert, and butted all day long against shoals, trying to find the channel, till you thought yourself bewitched and cut off forever from everything you had known once -somewhere- far away in another existence perhaps. There were moments when one's past came back to one, as it will sometimes when you have not a moment to spare to yourself; but it came in the shape of an unrestful and noisy dream, remembered with wonder amongst the overwhelming realities of this strange world of plants, and water, and silence. And this stillness of life did not in the least resemble a peace. It was the stillness of an implacable force brooding over an inscrutable intention. It looked at you with a vengeful aspect.'

Superb prose ( I've read it several times ), & the whole book really got me thinking, but it certainly made me uneasy reading that particular quote.

I agree, it is superb.

But for some weird reason, everytime I think of that scene I immediately have to think of Hot Shots 2 where Charlie and Martin Sheen´s PT boats meet in the middle of nowhere. Hilarious scene, the first time I have seen it I nearly choked (having seen Apocalypse Now a few weeks before even more...).

Class

Warspite1

Speaking of Hot Shots! Hot Shots Part Deux has one of my favourite lines. The attached clip does not quite do it justice as in the film the statement is preceeded by fighting - but its still very funny just on its own

That reminds me of Zulu. Two daughters were dismayed by the movie's portrayal of their father, who I think is the character portrayed as the miscreant drunk. (At least he wasn't the preacher!)

That would be Private Hook (I have the film and watch it regularly) and they were right to object to his portrayal. By all accounts his record was exemplary, and he'd only just been put onto good behaviour pay fairly recently before the action at Rorke's drift. Interestingly quite a few of the VC recpients from that battle later died in unusual circumstances, suicide, madness etc. It's just such a wonderful film and the character of the ranking British NCO (colour sergeant Bourne, off the top of my head) has to be one of the great film NCOs along with the likes of the guy from Full Metal Jacket (R. Lee Ermey?) and 'Bull' from the Band of Brothers series. Jack Hawkins, who played Mr Witt, the drunken preacher, was apparently rather uncomfortable with the character he was required to play. Hawkins of course was well known for the heroic stiff upper-lip roles and perhaps felt he might ruin his reputation.

Has anyone mentioned 'Lawrence of Arabia' or 'Bridge on the River Kwai' yet? Arguably not war films as such but those two David Lean films have it all. Epic in scope, cinematically breathtaking, thematically compelling, beautifully acted and all rounded out with wonderful soundtracks. I never tire of those two, they may not have the veritas of some grittier offerings but they are enormously entertaining to the senses.

ORIGINAL: warspite1 The film tells the story of the assassination of Reinhardt Heydrich in May 1942. It was made in the mid 70s and stars Timothy Bottoms and Anthony Andrews as the two main Czech agents that are flown in to Prague to kill "The Butcher of Prague".......

ORIGINAL: warspite1 The film tells the story of the assassination of Reinhardt Heydrich in May 1942. It was made in the mid 70s and stars Timothy Bottoms and Anthony Andrews as the two main Czech agents that are flown in to Prague to kill "The Butcher of Prague".......

Actually only one agent was Czech, the other guy was Slovak.

Warspite1

Are you being serious? Judging by the absence of a or a then I guess you are. However, I must ask, what was the purpose of that post?

At the time of WWII (well before the German invasion anyway), Czechoslovakia was one country and although the Germans subsequently allowed the setting up the Slovak Republic, the populace of Czechoslovakia were referred to generally as Czechs, regardless of whether they hailed from the east or the west of the country

If Gabcik was a proud Slovak - then what was he doing volunterring for Operation Anthropoid ?

< Message edited by warspite1 -- 8/24/2012 10:24:11 PM >

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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson - October 1805

@warspite1: not really true. Even before the separation of Slovakia by the Germans Czechoslovakia was considered to be inhabited by mainly 2 different ethnic groups the Czechs and the Slovaks (a third major one would be Germans ("Sudetendeutsche"). It would be like saying that people from Scotland are English.

edit: the second statement is even worse . That's like saying all Slovaks were Nazis... -.-

< Message edited by StK -- 8/24/2012 9:58:41 PM >

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Changing ones point of view isn't easy, but it provides one with a different view on the subject.

@warspite1: not really true. Even before the separation of Slovakia by the Germans Czechoslovakia was considered to be inhabited by mainly 2 different ethnic groups the Czechs and the Slovaks (a third major one would be Germans ("Sudetendeutsche"). It would be like saying that people from Scotland are English.

warspite1

No completely wrong. How Austrians refer to Czechs as a general grouping I cannot say, but in Britain we referred to them as Czechs. Who won the European Championship in 1976? The Czechs; NOT x no. of Czechs and y no. of Slovaks won the Eropean championship today, beating the Germans on penalties - no, Czechoslovakia won it aka the Czechs.

To suggest otherwise is nitpicking in the extreme.

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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson - October 1805

@warspite1: not really true. Even before the separation of Slovakia by the Germans Czechoslovakia was considered to be inhabited by mainly 2 different ethnic groups the Czechs and the Slovaks (a third major one would be Germans ("Sudetendeutsche"). It would be like saying that people from Scotland are English.

warspite1

No completely wrong. How Austrians refer to Czechs as a general grouping I cannot say, but in Britain we referred to them as Czechs. Who won the European Championship in 1976? The Czechs; NOT x no. of Czechs and y no. of Slovaks won the Eropean championship today, beating the Germans on penalties - no, Czechoslovakia won it aka the Czechs.

To suggest otherwise is nitpicking in the extreme.

warspite1

The Scotsman / English thing is also false in that it is different in the UK. The general name is British. In the case of Czechoslovakia its Czechs and thus the Slovaks are caught up in the generalisation. As I say - nitpicking in extremis.

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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson - October 1805

wouldn't the correct term back then have been Czechoslovaks? In German it was "Tschechoslovaken". Which back then was like the term "British"

warspite1

As I say, I cannot speak for other countries, I can only speak for how I was taught, what I have heard and what I have read. Whether its through ease of use or whatever, but we use Czechs. I suspect it is down to ease of use; Czechoslovak is a mouthful if you can get away with just using Czech.

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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson - October 1805

wouldn't the correct term back then have been Czechoslovaks? In German it was "Tschechoslovaken". Which back then was like the term "British"

edit: I don't get it.. If I would call you a Scot I think you would (correctly) say that that's not true. If the same thing should be applied to others its "nitpicking".

Warspite1

No. I am English - if you call me Scottish its wrong.

I am English - if you call me British its perfectly okay

If - when talking about the population of Czecholslovakia generally you say Czechs then also fine.

Exactly.. If you call Czechoslovaks Czechs its wrong.. Czechs refers to the ethnic group. You are English, not a Scot, not an Irish and you would want to be referred to as such.. or British. The words Czechoslovakian and Czechoslovak exist in the English language.

_____________________________

Changing ones point of view isn't easy, but it provides one with a different view on the subject.

wouldn't the correct term back then have been Czechoslovaks? In German it was "Tschechoslovaken". Which back then was like the term "British"

edit: I don't get it.. If I would call you a Scot I think you would (correctly) say that that's not true. If the same thing should be applied to others its "nitpicking".

Warspite1

No. I am English - if you call me Scottish its wrong.

I am English - if you call me British its perfectly okay

If - when talking about the population of Czecholslovakia generally you say Czechs then also fine.

Exactly.. If you call Czechoslovaks Czechs its wrong.. Czechs refers to the ethnic group. You are English, not a Scot, not an Irish and you would want to be referred to as such.. or British. The words Czechoslovakian and Czechoslovak exist in the English language.

Warspite1

Fine have it your way - please see post 135 and take your protestations up with every major publisher, historian, newscaster etc etc that I have ever read/heard. That should keep you busy for a while - theres plenty of them.

In the meantime, when referring pre the seperation of the country, I shall continue to call a Czech a Czech.

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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson - October 1805

Well it boils down to this. Even if every newscaster, publisher or whatever in Britain uses it, Slovaks don't want to be referred to as Czechs (I think the poster in the forum kind of showed this.. otherwise he wouldn't have brought it up). Now you can call him a nitpicker or except his wishes.

_____________________________

Changing ones point of view isn't easy, but it provides one with a different view on the subject.

Well it boils down to this. Even if every newscaster, publisher or whatever in Britain uses it, Slovaks don't want to be referred to as Czechs (I think the poster in the forum kind of showed this.. otherwise he wouldn't have brought it up). Now you can call him a nitpicker or except his wishes.

Warspite1

No, no and no again. You are not getting the point StK.

1. I am not going to accept being chastised for doing something that I have been doing for the almost 50 years that I have been on this planet - and have done so thanks to the teachings and examples I have had from many renowned writers, historians etc. The poster clearly decided that I was being disrespectful to Gabcik by calling him a Czech (as in Czech Republic); that as I have tried to show, is most certainly not the case.

2. There will be plenty of countries in the world with different ethnic groups within, but the populace will have a generic name. One or more ethnic group may think they get a bum deal - ask the Basques. That's life.

3. Czech Republic and Slovakia are now two sovereign states. I would not dream of referring Slovaks as Czechs NOW.

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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson - October 1805

I didn't really think you would be inconsiderate (I rather like your posts) but the thing is people from that country might misunderstand it and get upset, even if its correct.. that's actually the only thing I wanted to point out with all of this.

< Message edited by StK -- 8/24/2012 10:57:47 PM >

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Changing ones point of view isn't easy, but it provides one with a different view on the subject.

I didn't really think you would be inconsiderate (I rather like your posts) but the thing is people from that country might misunderstand it and get upset, even if its correct.. that's actually the only thing I wanted to point out with all of this.

Warspite1

Okay we're cool - btw, which part of Australia are you from?

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England expects that every man will do his duty. Horatio Nelson - October 1805

Why have not anyone mentioned movie from my avatar? It have submarine, as main plot point, and even Mifune is her captain! And it have IIRC Lee tank! From sea-based war movies, not mentioned earlier, I remember only one with Humphrey Bogard, as Destroyer Captain. It have few battle scenes, but it is not that interesting. From other movies, I can not remember names: there is one with Harrison Ford, who is bomber commander. I think it have few interesting AA-fire scenes. And there is movie about Last Charge of Light Brigade. If you liked Das Boot, you will probably like STRAFBAT series, about Russian Convicts Battalion.

And... speaking of WWII, does anyone seen this latest movie, about NAZI INVASION FROM DARK SIDE OF THE MOON, yet? I think it is some scandinavian production.

Yeah, I have seen it. Do not be fooled by trailer. It is Korean, so it is movie about martial arts. Beginning is interesting, but later it all degrades into your-typical-karate, although most scenes begin with bayonet charge (not that there is reason for that, they are NOT short on ammo, or anything. They are just THAT BADASS). It is mainly about Korean War.

Not really anything to do with the Naval side, but Lee Marvin & Toshirô Mifune's performances are absolutely brilliant, the ideas, the fears, the hatreds, the conflict, & comradeship 'in extremis', are captured brilliantly in microcosm in this film.

Love that movie, too bad Lee and Toshiro are gone :( i will miss them.

Why have not anyone mentioned movie from my avatar? It have submarine, as main plot point, and even Mifune is her captain! And it have IIRC Lee tank!

You are of course referring to 1941, the classic documentary of early-war civil defense along the US West Coast (hard to believe it was a Steven Speilberg film- those were the early days!). Every time I shart shifting around elements of the 40th Div in-game near LA, i think of that movie!

Why have not anyone mentioned movie from my avatar? It have submarine, as main plot point, and even Mifune is her captain! And it have IIRC Lee tank!

You are of course referring to 1941, the classic documentary of early-war civil defense along the US West Coast (hard to believe it was a Steven Speilberg film- those were the early days!). Every time I shart shifting around elements of the 40th Div in-game near LA, i think of that movie!

I loved the parts with Slim Pickens.....and the Jap sailor "Horrryywoooood!"

Why have not anyone mentioned movie from my avatar? It have submarine, as main plot point, and even Mifune is her captain! And it have IIRC Lee tank!

You are of course referring to 1941, the classic documentary of early-war civil defense along the US West Coast (hard to believe it was a Steven Speilberg film- those were the early days!). Every time I shart shifting around elements of the 40th Div in-game near LA, i think of that movie!

I loved the parts with Slim Pickens.....and the Jap sailor "Horrryywoooood!"

Classic!!

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Our lives may be more boring than those who lived in apocalyptic times, but being bored is greatly preferable to being prematurely dead because of some ideological fantasy.- Michael Burleigh